On 11 September 2023, NIK President Marian Banaś sent letters to two international institutions – the United Nations (UN) and the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The Polish SAI Head highlighted significant problems that NIK has struggled with recently. NIK President underlined that their character may raise legitimate concerns about whether the authorities respect NIK’s independence. The reason is that the Marshal of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, by her omission, considerably hinders the functioning of the NIK Council, which is composed of: the President of NIK as Chairman, Vice-Presidents and Director General, and 14 Members of the Council. It is precisely these 14 members that Marshal Elżbieta Witek is obliged to appoint, and despite appropriate requests from the President of NIK, she refrains from doing this, thus adversely affecting the situation within NIK.
The above puts into question the intentions of the most important representatives of the ruling camp, headed by the Prime Minister and the Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, who should cooperate with other entities to ensure the highest quality of state operations. Polish citizens have the right to know how public funds are spent and what the effects of auditing these funds are. Since the person leading works of the lower house of the Parliament evaded obligations arising from key legal acts, the President of NIK decided to pass this information on to international organisations. Marian Banaś has launched procedures contained in the Lima Declaration, based on which measures are taken to prevent the destruction of independence of audit institutions.
We will provide updates on the international response to the letters sent by NIK President Marian Banaś.
